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Words every NY Times crossword puzzle fan should know blog

I’ll continue to update this page with new categories and instances as I see ’em in NY Times Crosswords. This site advertises nothing but itself, please support it by exploring the site! If you want to avoid direct answers and would prefer just hints check out my hint blog.

Notes:

If you don’t know them, learn Roman numerals. When the Times says something like “Year Pope Leo was born”, the answer is usually a roman numeral. So you know which letters are even possible: M (1000), D (500), C (100), L (50), X (10), V (5), I (1). Remember that putting a single letter of smaller denomination before a bigger means you subtract that number. Examples: Nine isn’t VIIII but is IX. Forty is XL. 1900 is CM.

Anything with a “?” at the end is a pun or similar word play. “Start for Angel?” might be “LONG-A,” for example.

The Simpsons

Bar: Moe’s

Teacher: Edna Krabappel

(The whole list is available on Wikipedia, of course. I’m just adding them as they come up, NYT puzzles)

Friends

Phoebe / Lisa Kudrow

ROSS; JOEY, CHANDLER

Frasier

Seinfeld: ELAINE, KRAMER, FRASIER, NEWMAN

(Personally, I don’t know much of anything about current TV; But there are certainly lots of folks who know nothin’ about sports or some other common topic. Often you know whether the answer’s going to be a man vs. a woman’s first name so you can begin to make a decent guess after you’ve filled in some of the squares.)

Athletes

(Cagers, in case you didn’t know, are basketball players, their league is the NBA; U.S. Football leagues can be the NFL, the NFC or AFC — conferences in the NFL — and AL-ERs and NL-ERs are American Leagues and National League baseball leagues who are rarely referred to this way except in crossword puzzles.)

Hockey: Orr

Baseball: OTT, YAZ

Soccer: PELE

Golf: ERNIE ELS

Reggie Jackson: MR OCTOBER

Auto-racing family name: UNSER (Is auto-racing a sport? Not sure about that!)

Ice-skating: MIDORI ITO

Arenas & Nicknames of professional teams

NYC – KNICKS; Arena: MSG

Dallas = MAVs

…and don’t forget the Toledo MUD HENS!

Winners of American Idol : I have survived this far without knowing them. Perhaps this is going too far. They would come in handy sometimes, but perhaps not worth memorizing them if you aren’t a fan.

other: RHO, PIs, CHI (usually associated in clue with Sororities); SIGMA (associated with frats); OMEGA (the lastlast letter in the Greek alphabet — why couldn’t they end it with ZEE like everyone else…except the British who insist on calling zee ZED.

Foreign Money

Often clued as “former” currency: PESETA

Cambodian money: RIEL

And watch for EURO clued in a zillion different ways (e.g. Multinational currency)

Frequent Literary Names

Mother In Ibsen’s Peer Gynt: ASE

Mother in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying: ASA

Melville’s opus that isn’t Moby Dick: OMOO

Musical Instruments

LUTE, LYRE, SITAR, TABOR…

Corporate Names of Ball Fields (UGH!!!):

San Diego: PETCO PARK

NY Mets: CITI FIELD; Former home of the Mets: SHEA stadium

St. Pete: TROPICANA FIELD

Detroit: COMERICA PARK

NJ (where Giants / Jets play): MET LIFE

“Geographical” clues:

Sea known for it’s high salinity and for the fact that it’s rapidly disappearing from everything except crosswords: ARAL SEA

Rivers of Europe

RHONE and its tributary: ISERE

Dubai’s Federation: UAE; Nassar’s federation, now defunct, was the UAR

Algerian Port: ORAN (OMAN, by the way, is a mid-eastern emirate); ORAN is frequently clued as Camus’ plague city because it’s where his book, named The Plague aptly enough, takes place.)

Western alliance since 1949: NATO

Former Soviet or former atlas or former former: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)

Favorite puzzle volcano (MT) ETNA (Italy) or OSSA (Greece)

Indian tourist locale = AGRA

You know of course that TAJ can be the MAHAL or “Atlantic City Casino”